Ovulation! Why is it so confusing!!!! :0(

[Doris12]

I know this Q must get asked a million times, BUT I am new to MedHelp so please bare with me....

I am bamboozled about how I can tell when I am fertile and when I am not?! Therefore if there is anyone out there reading this and knows about Ovulation, then please HELP and explain it to me in lamen terms haha.

Also... even though I would love our baby no matter what the sex, I'd LOVE a baby girl, is there anything I can do to assist this although I know there is no magic answer?

Thanks for your time,
Doris ;0)
xx

[Doris12]

That didnt confuse me that made complete sense - thanks so much for explaining it so I'll understand! :0) No wonder you teach Biology! :0)

I am really grateful for youe time thanks a million, and I am truly sorry about your M/C :0(
Big Hugs from London... x

[StressHead]

There are two types of sperm, X and Y and so we'll call them girl sperm and boy sperm.  A friend I know already had two boys and she wanted a girl and she told me that she read somewhere that the girl sperm are bigger. (One type is definiftely bigger than other - I teach biology - but I never knew which it was until she said)

Anyway apparently you have to be active a day before ovulation and then leave it. This gives the girl sperm chance to get to the egg. They survive for up to 48 hours in the body I think, it's the egg that lasts 24. So maybe you can be active a day or two before. If you are active every day then there are more chance of the boy sperm getting to the egg. This worked for her and she must have read it somewhere on the net or in a book. So you could try that.

Now, like I said I know for a fact one sperm is bigger and therefor slower BUT lots have studies have been done on sperm and they all conclude that both types are equally as able to fertilise the egg. Also the population is roughly 50/50 male to female and if there was a chance of predicting sex then it would be skewed.

Hope this doesn't confuse you.....

Also about ovulation, I am trying the sticks at the moment but when I got pregnant in Jan (M/C unfortunately) I counted till the 11th day after my period and was active everyday for 7 days to be sure I caught the egg. Your ovulation day is roughly in the middle of your cycle, if your cycle is longer then you would have to wait longer. Ovulating on the 14th day is based on a 28 day cycle. BUT some people ovulate really late and some ovulate really early. It's best to keep a track of how long your cycles last and use that as a starting point.

[Doris12]

Thanks Kelly, I'll jump onto "Fertility Clender" and "Fertility Friend" and see how I get on. I am sure if I research enough I should be able to work it all out, however when I first started looking it was very confusing... websites talking about Natal Moon phases, graphs, spreadsheets, body temperatures etc haha.... all I kept thinking was, I want to make a baby, not test my IQ level?? haha........  thanks loads for taking the time to respond though! Your advise is gratefully recieved :0)

[KellyA74]

When I first started TTC I found www.babymed.com helpful.  On the left side menu is a choice called "Fertility Calander"...You just plug in your LMP and the # of days in your cycle and a calander will pop up telling you your most fertile days should be....Very easy for beginners.....I tried Fertility Friend too and now I understand it, but when you're just trying to figure this stuff out, it's rather confusing.......There's really no way to choose the sex of a baby.....But you can go to www.fortunebaby.com and there'a Chinese Gender Calander on there...they claim that it's 90 something % accurate....but I'm not sure...More fun than anything!

[Doris12]

It is very confusing, I feel embarrassed too, surely I should know the answer? But its more confusing than I thought! haha.

Thanks for your advice though Ladies - I shall take your advice and see how I get on! ;0)

Take Care

[durhamjk1]

Charting basal body temperature worked for me.  You buy a BBT thermometer at walmart (usually with the ovulation predictor kits, and home pregnancy tests, but I have seen them with regular thermometers).  It is like 7 or 8 bucks.  You take temp every morning before doing anything, before you even get out of bed.  Then you chart your temp daily, either on graph paper (you get some when you buy the thermometer) or online at a website like fertlityfriend . com.  Pretty soon you'll notice a temp shift in your cycle.  When temp is high, that means you already ovulated.  The day before temp shifts, is ovulation.  Confusing, I know but check out fertilityfriend.com and it gives plenty of charts and shows what I am talking about.  Good luck and please ask if you have anymore q's.  I'll try to answer!

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

ok well you usually should have a 14 day luteal phase meaning 14 days from O til AF.....so just count 14 days from when you next period is due and you can go by that .....but not always do women have 14 luteal phase the best way to tell is to temp.....check out how on www.webwomb.com   but I found my only way to tell since i'm not good a temping is to use the Ovualtion prediction tests....and take them same time every day in the after noon and when you get a pos quit testing and you should O in the next 24-48 hours...